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Quotes

"There is no better way to thank God for your sight than by giving a helping hand to someone in the dark." - Helen Keller

When I stand before God at the end of my life, I would hope that I would not have a single bit of talent left, and could say, "I used everything you gave me." ~Erma Bombeck

You may never know how strong you are, until being strong is your only choice.- Unknown

Keep your face to the sunshine and you cannot see a shadow' ~Helen Keller

Promise me you'll always remember: You're braver than you believe, and stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think.

Don't cry because it's over, smile because it happened."- Dr. Seuss

"Life is 10% what happens to you, and 90% how you react to it."

"God doesn't give children with disabilities to strong people: He gives them to ordinary, everyday people, then He helps the parents to grow stronger through the journey. Raising a child with special needs doesn't TAKE a special family, it MAKES a special family."Author Unknown

I have been driven many times to my knees by the overwhelming conviction that I had nowhere else to go – Abraham Lincoln

Be always at war with your vices, at peace with your neighbors, and let each new year find you a better man. ~ Benjamin Franklin

There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as if everything is a miracle - Albert Einstein

The journey of a 1000 miles starts with a single step

Sometimes in the middle of an ordinary life, love gives you a fairy tale

Where there is great love, there are always miracles - Willa Cather

The Difficult we can do immediately, the impossible takes a little longer

Doing what you like is freedom. Liking what you do is happiness

There are two lasting bequests we can give our children. One is roots. The other is wings.

Life may not be the party we expected, but while we are here, we might as well dance

"The man who moves a mountain begins by carrying away small stones." -Confucius

Saturday, July 18, 2015

Washington DC Trip Day 2

Today we were busy from beginning to end. We left early this morning and took the Metro (subway) down to the Capitol area. We spent most of the morning in the Library of Congress. We were able to take a free tour of the Thomas Jefferson Library of Congress building, and that was really cool. They have every book that was ever printed. We took some pictures, so I will caption them below.

After the Library of Congress, we had some lunch (there is a cafeteria in the Capitol which was great) and then toured the Capitol. We had these tickets, again, through our Congresswoman. Had to get them 4-6 months ahead of time. this was a great tour as well. The Capitol is really beautiful. The dome is under restoration, and we were told that this was the last week for tours of the Capitol Dome for a YEAR because they are closing it off.So we were lucky to be able to see it.

After the Capitol, we started our long walk down the National Mall. We were using the afternoon to look at the monuments and just stroll the mall. We first stopped at the National Botanical Gardens, which were beautiful. Then we headed down to the Washington Monument, the Lincoln Memorial, the WWII memorial, and the Vietnam War memorial.

After all the monuments, we started our walk back to the Hotel. We are staying just a few blocks from the white House, so we were going to walk in front of it for fun. As we got close, the police stopped all the traffic. A few sharp shooters appeared, and we started to get a little nervous. They redirected all walking traffic through a large field a few blocks away from the White House. We saw a group of people talking to a Secret Service agent on the field, and then they gathered at a fence. So we decided to investigate. Within a few minutes 3 large White House Helicopters appeared. The middle one was carrying the President, and the other two were just flanking him. And then there were several other helicopters in the area. It was madness, but so cool. We took several pictures, and watched the President land on the White House lawn. We saw them get out, but couldn't see much because they were far away. It was definitely a highlight of the day.

We are all very tired tonight. The last two days Mat, Arlington and I have tracked over 22,000 steps each day on our fitbits, so we are getting a lot of exercise.

Enjoy the pictures!

Finley used her cane all day today. She got a special souvenier at the end of the day because of it.

Library of Congress

Main reading room in the Library of Congress. You can only go in this room if you want to research something (and have a legitimate reason). You could request books that are over 200 years old.

Inside the main reading room in the Thomas Jefferson building of the Library of Congress

As close as you can get

Science mural

Minerva - the Roman Goddess of Wisdom

The Main Dome in the Library of Congress

This was made by a monk - took him 18 months to write. It took him one day to write a page. It is over 500 years old. It is one of the last great hand written Bibles in the World.

The Gutenberg Bible is another very, very old and very famous Bible. This was one of the first books ever printed. Gutenberg invented the mechanical printing press. It is also over 500 years old. This is one of only THREE perfect copies of the Bible that are left in the world.

The first map to label America as America that included the Pacific Ocean.

A replica of the Thomas Jefferson Library. As we all know, in 1812, those British farts came over and burned down the capitol and the Library of Congress, and they lost 2/3rd of their collection. BUT - about 1/3 of the books that Thomas Jefferson donated to the Library survived and are displayed in this case. It was really cool to see his books up close - books that were over 200 years old. AND what he had in his collection. (the man donated over 6000 books to the library before it burned)

An original drawing of the very first Spiderman Comic

Library of Congress

Capitol Building - dome under contruction

Finley standing next to the Helen Keller Statue that was donated by Alabama to the Capitol.

A replica of the statue that is on top of the Capitol building

Sam Adams (statue that was donated to the Capitol by Massachusetts)

Capitol dome under restoration

There were paintings all around the dome. This is a painting of the signing of the Declaration of Independence

This is where John Quincy Adams' desk was at the Capitol when he was in Congress

Dome in the room with the statues

Statue room. Each state is allowed to donate two statues of someone famous from their state. The rules are - the person has to be dead, and they can't replace the statue until the statue has been in the Capitol for 10 years.

Finley standing in the Statue room in front of Rosa Parks. (she did a project on her in 2nd grade). We were told that Rosa Parks is the ONLY statue that will NEVER be removed from the Capitol. AND she has been the only woman to lay in state in the Capitol after she died.

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We are a family of 5 living in Massachusetts. Mat and I have been married for 16 years, and we have three children. Arlington is 11 years old, and Finley and Cainan are 8 years old. We adopted Cainan from China when he was 14 months old. He was born with cleft lip and palate level three. This blog started out as our journey to bring him into our family and has turned into our family blog. He and Finley are only 30 days apart!! We love being a blended family, and enjoy sharing about our trials and tribulations through becoming one! Also, our daughter Finley was diagnosed in 2009 with Lebers Congenital Amaurosis (LCA) a rare genetic eye condition that has made her legally blind. Come and read about our proud family!If you want to read Cainan's story, click here:The Pletcher Five Journey Blessings Times Three: Cainan's Story